Mindfulness in the Workplace

I am often asked by managers how can I deal with an employee issue, or how can I get them to produce more, or behave in line with the organisations values? What management and organisations sometimes forget is they are dealing with people not company assets. The employment relationship is exactly that, a relationship, which requires ongoing nurturing. I diplomatically remind managers of this and also cut them some slack, as they too are employees under pressure to deliver the organisation objectives. In today’s competitive environment we are so focussed on meeting targets and being successful we forget about being human in the workplace.

So how can organisations achieve a productive and healthy workforce? There are so many ways an organisation can approach this, however it really needs to start with a combination of reviewing the company’s culture, management coaching and employee wellbeing. I recently attended a Mum’s List Legacy (MLL) workshop in New York, which used a combination of mindfulness, NLP techniques and lifestyle questionnaires to help participants to objectively look at their life, stress levels and gave them a safe environment to self assess, and make decisions in a calm and controlled way about what needed to change. Some organisations are adopting similar techniques as part of their employee wellbeing strategy, creating a space for a more positive, motivated and productive workforce.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has written several articles and policy reports on the importance of employee wellbeing to tackle issues such mental health, stress, low productivity and high absence rates, which according to the CIPD wellbeing policy report Jan 2016, ‘’costs the UK economy £554 per employee a year. This doesn’t capture the full impact of indirect costs of ill-health, such as lost productivity, reduced customer service and lower employee morale.”

The report goes on to state “there are also impressive performance, engagement and health gains to be made from well-rounded wellbeing strategies. A report from PricewaterhouseCoopers said there was a “wealth of evidence” to suggest a positive link between wellbeing initiatives and improvements in bottom line performance”. The MLL workshop as part of an employee wellbeing strategy can really yield some positive results for organisations. Perhaps it’s time to drop the resources and focus on the human and holistic element of all employee management, including the leadership team and CEO, to really be successful in this competitive environment.

Great article! Looking forward to applying these techniques among my team and coworkers.

5/25/2016 7:15:36 PM

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Blog Overview

The MLL blog provides insightful perspectives on the challenges we face everyday such as addiction, depression, anger, relationships, - and how to apply proven mindfulness techniques to balance our spirit, mind and body in order to achieve greater emotional well-being, happiness and peace.